Bottle-stopper.



No. 758,319. PATENTED APR. 26, 1904. r G. KIRKEGAARD.

BOTTLE STOP-PER. APPLICATION nun mm. 16, 1903.

no MODEL.

WIN/8858: i J INVENTOR zttmafib #5 UNITED STATES iatented April 26, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORG KIRKEGAARD, on NEW YORK, N.- Y., ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF Y T0 FRIDTJOF JEBSEN, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

BoTT E-sToPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 758,319, dated April 26, 1904. i Application filed December 16. 1903. Serial No. 185,338. (Nil model.) I

T0 at whom it may concern: 7 I

Be it known that I, GEORG KIRKEGAARD, a

citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Brooklyn and State of New .York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottie-Stoppers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to means for closing and hermetically sealing bottles, jars, and other similar packages. 7

One of the most common forms of bottlestopper in use at the present time consists of a tin cap containing a cork disk, which is placed over the neck or mouth of the bottle and the cork pressed firmly against the annular edge of the bottle by crimping the edge of the cap into an external groove on the neck of the bottle immediately below the edge. This form of. bottle-closer, although extensively in use, has a number of disadvantages which it is desirable to overcome or avoid, among which may be mentioned, first, that a separate tool must be used to lift or remove the cap from the bottle, and as this tool is not always at hand or becomes lost the method of prying or knocking the cap off by other means is often resorted to with the result, usually, that the neck of the bottle is broken; second, having once removed the cap, either by means of the special tool or. in any other manner, it is impossible toagain hermetically seal the cap, so that in case only a portion of the contents of the bottle is used the remainder cannot be preserved; third, it is sometimes found that this style of closer is not absolutely tight and the contents of the bottle is often found to be dead vor spoiled, the reason for this being that as glass bottles necessarily vary somewhat in size, and as they capping-machine is adjusted to apply the caps to bottles of a given size and shape the fit of the cap on the bottle is not always the same and the pressure of the contents is allowed to escape when a poor fit occurs. Again, a great deal of breakage is experienced in capping the bottles from this same cause. Notwithstanding these faults, this style of bottle-stopper is a very good one and is largely in use on account of its cheapness.

The object of my invention is therefore to provide a bottle-stopper of this general class which does not require a separate special'tool to remove it from the bottle,,which can be replaced and rescaled as perfectly as when originally applied, so that a portion of the contents of the bottle can be preserved, which can be applied with the same degree of security against escape of pressure to each bottle, and which, either in applying or removing, no breakage of the bottles can occur.

' My invention consists, essentially, of a spring-metal cap containing the usual cork disk or lining and having a flexible edge terminat ing in a bead or flange, in combination with an encircling wire or .band and an eccentricwrench adapted to engage the ends of the wire or band to contract the flexible edge of the cap and by pressure against its head or flange draw the edges downward and into an'annular exterior groove on the neck of the bottle, whereupon the eccentric wrench becomes locked and the bottle is sealed. 7 i

The further details of this construction and the operation will be fully pointed out in the description which follows with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical section of the neck of a bottle, showing my improved stopper in place. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, showing the'wrench in the locked position. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2,.showing the wrench in the unlocked position. Figs. 4 and 5 are each front and side views of two different forms of wrench. Figs. 6 and 7 are side elevations of the cap contracted and eX- side views of the preferred form of eccentricwrench. Fig. 14 shows the preferred form of wrench applied to the cap, and Fig. 15 is one form of bottle that can be used with the stopper.

Referring to the drawings by letter, A represents a bottle which may be also understood as indicating a jar or other package having a round mouth or neck. This bottle is formed with an annular external groove a-immediately below its mouth.

6 indicates a metal cap, preferably of tin, and formed by cutting ablank similar in shape to Fig. 8 and bending the projections clownward to form the cap shown in Fig.7, wherein the vertical flange is divided into segments by slits Z), which permit the flange to move inward without crimping. The extreme edge of the flange is curled or in any other manner formed with a bead or flange 6 Inside of the cap is placed a disk of cork or other suitable packing material, (indicated by 0.) The next element of my improved stopper is a clamping-ring (Z, which is preferably of steel wire. This ring is incomplete and its ends turn outward to form hooks or projections d, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear. This ring. is adapted to be placed around the outside of the cap shown in Fig.

7 and rest immediately above the flange b The remaining element of ,the device is a wrench 0. This consists, essentially, of ahead having an eccentric-opening in it and a handle. The eccentric-opening may be of. various shapes. triangular shape, one side of which is curvedto give ease of action. This curved side terminates at one end in a seat 0 and in the corner opposite this seat there may be another seat 6 as shown in Fig. 5, or, what I prefer, a small pivotal hole a, as shown in Figs. 4:

' and 13. The distance between the pivotal ends.

hole e or the seat 6 and the seat 6 is shorter than the distance from the hole 6 or seat 6 and the third corner 6 of the triangular opening. This wrench forms a permanent part of the stopper and remains fixed to the bottle with the other elements of the stopper until the latter is removed. The wrench is applied to the two hooked ends d of-the ring d by passing the eccentric-opening over the two When my preferred form of wrench containing the pivotal hole 6 is used, one of the hooked ends is passed through this hole and therefore serves to hold one end of the ring permanently in one corner of the eccentric.- opening. It also tends to prevent the wrench lfrom becoming detached when the stopper is oose.

To seal a bottle, the cap, in the form shown in Fig.7 withthe ring (Z around it and the wrench applied to. the ends of the ring, as shown in Fig. 3, is placed over the mouth of a bottle. the handle of the wrench one of the hooks d slides down the curved side of the eccentric- I have shown it, however, of a.

Then by pressing downward on opening, while the other remains fixed in the pivotal hole 6 until the wrench has been brought into the vertical position shown in Fig. 2, when the hook CZ" jumps into the seat 6 and locks the hooks in the shortest diameter of the eccentric-opening. It will be seen that in making this movement-the hooked ends of the ring are drawn together, which lessens the. diameter of the ring and consequently forces the edge of the cap into the groove (0 on the bottle. If it were not for the flange 6 the ring would drop below the cap, but instead of doing this it exerts a downward pressure upon the flange as well as an inward or radial pressure, and thus draws the top of 'the'cap toward the top of the bottle and compresses the cork against the upper edge of the bottle to form the seal. The bottle remains in this condition until it is to be opened, whereupon the handle of the wrench is pushed into the position shown in Fig. 3, and the natural resiliency of the cap causes it to be loosened so that it can be lifted from the bottle by hand. Obviously thecap can be returned to its place at once for the purpose of preserving a part of the contents of the bottle, since by fastening or releasing the cap it is not in any way injured.

The wrench should be stamped out of steel, and it will be seen that by providing a proper eccentricity of the opening 6 any degree of pressure can be brought to bear upon the ring. In order to insure the sealing of all bottles regardless of slight imperfections or variations in their size and yet prevent breakage due to excessive pressures, I prefer to either make the ring, as shown in Fig. 12, with a yielding loop or kink d, or make the wrench, as shown in Figs. 4E and 14, with a slit 0, or resort to both of these expedients, in which case thestiffness of the ring cl or of the Wrench before they will yield is suflicient to seal any bottle, while in case the cap is applied to a slightly-larger bottle than usual the loop (Z will open or the sides of the eccentric will separate sufliciently to relieve the strain and prevent breakage of the bottle.

The form of eccentric which I prefer to use is shown in Figs. 13 and 14, wherein the short side of the eccentric-opening is at the top when the bottle is closed instead of at the bottom, as shown in Fig. 2. This prevents the upper end of the Wrench from projecting above the cap when the bottle is sealed, as in Fig. 2.

In the construction shown in Figs. 10 and 11 the inward pressure on the edge of the cap does not take place, the entire pressure exerted by the ring being downward. It will be seen that the cap is provided with a series of slots f, instead of the flange b and that the ring is bent to pass into and out of each of these slots. Thus when the ends of the ring are drawn together by the eccentric those portions of the ring which bear against the inclined wall of bottle.

the groove a tend to slide to the bottom of said groove, thus causing the-ring to push against the lower edge of each slot and draw the cap downward to compress the cork.

The flange of thecap may be vertical, as shown in Fig. 7, or slightly bent inward, as shown in Fig. 6, before it is applied to the Likewise other ways of forming the flange to permit it to be pressed into the groove a may be adopted-for instance, the flange might be fluted instead of slit. It is also noted that while the formation on the outside of the neck of a bottle is described as a groove a complete groove is not essential to'my invention, since only the upper inclined wall is allthat is necessary. In other words, the bottle may be shaped as shown in Fig. 14:, where it will be seen that the wire in pressing inward tends to run down the inclined shoulder a. The groove is mentioned herein, however, to show the'application of my improved stopper to bottles already in use.

\Vhile it may be admittednthat the cost of the stopper herein described is slightly more than the simple crimped cap now in use, yet the adoption of my device will not entail'any more expense in the end than the old device. The reason for this is that my stopper can be returned to the bottler with the bottle and used many times, whereas the old device can i be used but once. Furthermore, the losses entailed in the use of the old device due to breakage will not be experienced with my stopper.

inwardly-inclined, annular, exterior surface below its mouth, of a metallic cap adapted to fit over the mouth of the bottle and having a flexible edge opposed to said surface, an open clamping-ring engaging said edge and an eccentric-Wrench engaging the ends of the ring to force said edge against the annular surface flange, in combination with an open ring em-v bracing the flexible edge above the flange and a wrench pivotally attached to one end of the ring and having an eccentric-opening embracing the other end, substantially as described.

3. In a bottle-stopper, the combination of a cap, an open tightening-ring, and an eccentric-wrench adapted to engage the ends of said ring, said wrench having yielding parts which prevent excessive pressure of the ring.

at. A bottle-stopper comprising a metallic cap having a flexible edge, an open ring embracing said edge, an eccentric-wrench engaging the ends of said ring, and seats in said wrench to receive the ends of the ring in the locked position.

In witness whereof I subscribe my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEO. KIRKEGAA D.

Witnesses:

FRANK S. OBER, VVALDO M. OHAPIN. 

